THE DOGE DODGE HAS ENDED

File under ‘It’s about GD time’… A federal judge on Monday ordered the government-downsizing team created by Trump and spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk to make public records concerning its operations, which he said had been run in "unusual secrecy." U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in DC sided with the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in finding that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was likely an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The dodge of DOGE being exempt from FOIA because of its dubious designation as an arm of the Executive didn’t pass the smell test, basically because they were executing “substantial independent authority.” Understatement of the week but very welcome regardless. Cooper said it "appears to have the power not just to evaluate federal programs, but to drastically reshape and even eliminate them wholesale," a fact the judge said the agency declined to refute. He said its "operations thus far have been marked by unusual secrecy," citing reports about DOGE's use of an outside server, its employees' refusal to identify themselves to career officials and their use of the encrypted app Signal to communicate. No unelected official should have the power to do what Musk has done and will do in the shadows and not be accountable the American people. And to Congress. Though half of them seem less than interested. At least in public. (We’re all sick of the old shoe on the other foot game, but imagine once again how the GOP might react if a Dem prez was bringing in their biggest donor and said ‘Go for it. Just let me know when you’re done with whatever you’re doing.’ Y’all would have lost your minds. And rightly so.) The judge directed the Trump administration to file a status report by March 20 estimating the number of documents at issue and ordered the parties to propose by March 27 a schedule for rolling production of the documents. And just in case…Cooper also entered an order directing DOGE to preserve records, citing "the possibility that representatives of the Defendant entities may not fully appreciate their obligations to preserve federal records." It’s kinda quaint that the judge thinks these ‘Defendant entities’ have high regard for preserving records. I’m pretty sure they could wipe out galaxies with a key stroke if they wanted to. Unfortunately just telling them they’re supposed to preserve everything they’ve done or else is the best we can hope for. But we’ll take it. Let’s just hope Elon doesn’t figure out how to impeach the entire judiciary before March 20.